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Hobab

The son of Reuel the Midianite, and Moses's brother-in-law. As Israel prepared to leave Sinai, Moses asked him to come with them, offering a share in whatever good the Lord did for them; Hobab answered that he would return to his own land and kindred. Moses pressed him, saying he knew where they should camp in the wilderness and would be their eyes. Kenites appear later settled among Israel in the south.

Role: Brother-in-law of Moses

Lived: c. 13th century BC

Born: Midian

What we know — and how we know it

Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1 Scholarly — supported scholarly belief · 2

Origin & birthplace

BibleFrom Midian.

Numbers 10:29

↳ Midian

Family & lineage

ScholarlyHobab sits at the center of a well-known textual crux over the identity of Moses's father-in-law, who is named Jethro, Reuel, and Hobab across the Pentateuch; Numbers 10:29 makes Hobab the son of Reuel, while Judges 4:11 appears to call Hobab himself Moses's ḥōtēn (father-in-law/kinsman), and his Kenite descendants are traced from him.

Standard source- and text-critical discussion of the Jethro/Reuel/Hobab problem in Pentateuch commentaries.

Name & titles

ScholarlyThe name Hobab derives from the Semitic root ḥbb, "to love," yielding a sense like "beloved" or "cherished one."

Hebrew/Semitic onomastics (root ḥbb).

Where in scripture

Numbers Judges

Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are journeying to the place of which Yahweh said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well; for Yahweh has spoken good concerning Israel.”
Numbers 10:29 — 'You know where we should camp'

Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.
Judges 4:11

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.

Numbers 10:29 Judges 4:11

In their own words — 1 recorded saying

“But he said, I will not go with you, I will go back to the land of my birth and to my relations.” — Numbers 10:30

Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).

Related reading

Hobab

What we know — and how we know it

Where in scripture

In their own words — 1 recorded saying

Places in their life